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Josh’s eyes drifted closed for the third time, and his head nodded forward. Unlike the other times, this time, they stayed closed. I sat motionless beside him. It had been more than an hour. The evening had slid past. Uncle Jack had gone out for a second about half an hour ago, leaving me and Josh in the trailer. I was surprised that Josh hadn’t had second thoughts by now. It seemed that the information he’d gotten from Jack had tied him to the old man, and Jack wasn’t the type to hold back on exploiting weaknesses. Now Josh was just as entangled in all of this as I was.
Unfortunately for me, he seemed as committed as ever to keeping me there, waiting for Cayden, even if the likelihood of him showing up was lessening by the minute.
A small electric heater had warmed the trailer. It would have made me sleepy, too, if it hadn’t been for the adrenaline pumping through my veins.
Josh’s head dropped forward even more.
He was sleeping. He was actually sleeping. I waited an excruciating ten more minutes to make sure. If he wasn’t deeply under, and a noise woke him, then he’d catch me, and I probably wouldn’t get another chance.
So, I waited.
After ten minutes, I made my move. I didn’t have my phone since Uncle Jack had taken it, after forcing me to text Cayden while hovering threateningly over me the entire time. I didn’t have to see it to know that Cayden hadn’t replied.
I made my way silently across the trailer. I didn’t have my watch on and had no way of knowing how long I’d been sitting beside Josh, madly trying to plan how the hell I was going to get out of here.
When I opened the trailer door as quietly as possible, a wind blew sharply through the doorway, and I hurried down the stairs and shut it softly behind me. That storm that had been brewing was nearly upon us, and the wind pulled at me, a slight shower of raindrops blowing against me as I staggered away from the trailer.
My legs felt numb from sitting for so long. I just had to get to the road. There was a bus stop down there, and I could get the hell away from Midnight Falls. I’d tell Cayden about Josh and Ellen and what his uncle was doing. I’d explain that they were victims, just as much as I was. After that, it would be his problem. I wasn’t going to get involved in any of his shit anymore.
Lights appeared down the road that ran through the trailer park. It was a car. Too late, I turned to see where Jack’s truck was. I wasn’t sure if Jack had gone out in his truck or on foot.
Now, I noticed that his truck was missing from its space.
The vehicle rolled closer, and I took in the distinctive black stripe down the side. It was him. I immediately veered off the road and into the gathering shadows on the side, hiding in the overhang of someone’s trailer. A sharp rap at the window sent me jumping a foot in the air. Someone wagged their finger at me through their window, telling me to move on. The truck had stopped outside the last trailer, and Jack got out.
Had he seen me?
“Come on, girl! Don’t make me chase you,” he hollered, answering my question.
At the sound of his shout, the door banged open to his trailer, and Josh stumbled out, rubbing his eyes.
“Where’ve you been? She’s getting away, goddamn it!” Jack shouted at Josh before turning this way and that, looking for me.
Another rap at the window pulled their attention. I couldn’t stay here.
I turned from the trailer with the irate neighbor and took off across the uneven ground out the back of the park.
“She’s over there!”
Josh’s shout sent fear coursing through me. I ran faster, my head down, making for the cliff edge. I’d run along there and hopefully come to Midnight Falls before long, or somewhere I could hide better. The entire cliff top was exposed, leaving absolutely no hiding places.
Behind me, was the sound of pursuit. Jack might be unfit as hell, but Josh would catch me. Sure, he had an injury, but it wasn’t a broken leg, and he was motivated. I had no doubt that he would catch me.
My lungs burned. My breathing was unmeasured, rasping in and out of my chest painfully.
The ankle I’d injured weeks ago ached as I sprinted across the hard ground. One wrong step, and I’d go down. The awareness burned through me.
In the distance, Jack shouted to Josh, just as another sound filled the air.
A low, aggressive whine.
The sound magnified, and I tried to work out what the hell I was hearing, when a light came into sight. A bobbing, white circle, a single light in the deepening dark, rushing toward me at a great speed. More than one, actually.
What the hell were they?
I didn’t have time to find out before Josh’s hand snagged my arm and he wrenched me backward. I nearly lost my footing and fell into his chest as he grabbed me.
“Very clever, Lillian, but give it up now, you’re caught,” Josh ground out.
